


You and Me were Mint to Be

by crazyrandomhappenklance (miles_from_home)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: ADHD, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Canon Compliant, First Kiss, Gay Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) Has ADHD, M/M, Mild Language, Oblivious Keith (Voltron), Oblivious Lance (Voltron), klance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-10 08:30:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18656761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miles_from_home/pseuds/crazyrandomhappenklance
Summary: It hurts to reminisce about Earth and things the Paladins miss the most, but every once in a while it’s unavoidable.The Paladins begin to discuss the food they miss most which leads to Lance confessing a secret he’s been hiding for a long time, which leads to realisations and even more confessions...





	You and Me were Mint to Be

**Author's Note:**

  * For [letmebelex (Willow_wolfe88)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Willow_wolfe88/gifts).



“ _ You _ are a  _ heathen! _ ” Pidge crossed her arms over her chest and twisted her torso so she was facing away from Keith. Hunk, who was sitting in the seat next to her inched defensively to the side, sensing the powder keg that was the green paladin about to blow.

Keith, unable to understand what he'd said wrong searched for understanding among the other's faces around the table. “What? Why?!”

Hunk leaned forward to see Keith better. “She has a point. Strawberry Oreos are bad enough, but crushing them into almond milk? That's just a step too far.” 

“And I thought I could trust you to have an open mind and an open pallet, Hunk!” Keith sulked.

Lance squinted at him from across the table, “Are you sure you're from Earth? Sometimes I wonder if you're not some kind of alien.”

“Do I  _ look _ alien?” Keith snapped, Lance automatically pushing his buttons just by opening his mouth. 

“Well, half-alien maybe? I donno, but there's something not human about doing weird shit with your food like that.”

“Language, Lance!” Shiro warned, “And everyone is allowed to have differences in taste, regardless of how... strange they may be.”

“Shiro, you  _ traitor!”  _ Keith gasped, “At least I don't put ketchup on mac ‘n’ cheese!”

There was a collective disparaging “ooh!” from around the group. 

Shiro suddenly sighed, “God, I miss mac ‘n' cheese,” ignoring the condemnation and suddenly sobering the mood of the room. 

They all looked around at each other. They rarely mentioned things they missed from home, it brought up too many emotions, but once in a while, like now, it just became too much to not speak about it.

“Swedish fish,” Pidge said quietly, “I never would have thought of all the things I would miss, that would be the thing I'd miss.”

“Apples,” everyone's conscious turned towards Hunk, but no one was actually brave enough to make eye contact with each other, so they all just focused on a spot somewhere on the table. “We've got an apple tree at the bottom of my parent's garden. One of the first things I learned to bake was apple pie. I remember kneeling up on the kitchen chair to reach the table. I really miss apples.”

There was a moment of silence. 

“What about you, Keith?” Pidge asked.

Keith sat thinking for a bit, his forearms resting on the table in front of him, fiddling absently with his fingers. “Beaver Nuggets,” he said eventually. 

Lance snorted a laugh, winding Keith up once again. 

“Jeez, Lance! What are you, eight?” Keith swung his leg out blindly under the table hoping to make contact with Lance's shin, but only finding air.

Lance caught Shiro's warning look and tried to straighten his features. 

“So, Lance, I guess yours is garlic knots? You've mentioned missing them before.” Shiro asked, trying to neutralise the conversation again. 

“It was, I mean, it is, I miss the taste, but I think the thing I miss the most is gum.”

“Gum? Like, mint gum?” Keith asked. 

“Oh, I really don't care what flavour, but yeah, just… gum.” 

“Why gum?” Keith was genuinely perplexed by Lance's choice. 

And there it was. Another perfect example of the irony of Lance not being able to keep his mouth shut, not thinking before he spoke. He wondered why he couldn’t have just said garlic knots.

“Umm…” Lance nervously looked about and glanced at Shiro a couple of times. Shiro seemed to understand and gave him a nod as if to tell him it was okay to carry on. He swallowed thickly and stared down at his hands where he was running a finger repeatedly around the cuff of his jacket and his knee began to bounce more noticeably than usual. 

“I,” he paused, feeling the heat of everyone's eyes suddenly on him, “I don't talk about it much, but when I was twelve I was diagnosed with ADHD, it-it's why I can't keep still and why I sometimes talk too loud and too much and I say things before I think…” he laughed nervously and it kind of caught in his throat like a hiccup. 

Feeling the weight of expectation for him to carry on, he took a breath to continue. “It makes me impulsive, like my brain has no brakes. I find it hard to focus if I don't have something to concentrate on, but if I do I can absolutely hyperfocus on that thing, like hitting targets,” a small smile twitched on his lips, “I was fine back home, on Earth, I had my medication which helped, but, well, it's been a while…” he drifted off on that thought, how the first few weeks of being unexpectedly dragged into space had been hell with so many things to concentrate on and adapt to, the abrupt stop of his pills left his head confused enough on its own, insomnia playing havoc on his mind as he lay awake at night, not even being allowed the respite of sleep to escape from the chaos they'd been thrown into. It was a lot to deal with, too much, but Shiro had known there was something much more going on with him and one night he'd approached Lance and got him to tell him everything. 

“Gum!” he brought the purpose of the conversation back around, “Gum helps me focus, helps me fidget less… sometimes it helps me talk less if my mouth is otherwise occupied,” he sheepishly grinned, “So, without my meds, I'd do anything for gum right now.” 

The room remained quiet for a beat, it was Hunk that spoke first,

“Dude, why didn't you tell me all this before?”

“It just didn't matter at the time, I guess,” Lance said with a shrug, “and there's not a lot I can do about it now.” 

“We would’ve been able to support you though,” said Pidge with a look of heartfelt sympathy, “that's what friends and space family are for.”

He smiled at her, genuinely touched by her thoughts. “Thanks, Pidge.” 

Shiro gave him one of his ‘I'm proud of you’ space-dad smiles then stood up with a stretch. “Well, I don't know about you guys but I need to hit the sack, today was exhausting.”

They all nodded and agreed. One by one they got up from the table and started to make their way to their rooms, only Shiro noticed that Keith was still sat at the table not moving. 

“Aren't you going to bed, Keith?” He asked, a little concerned. 

“Yeah, I'll be along in a minute.” he answered a bit dispondantly. 

“Okay, see you in the morning.” and Shiro left. Keith stayed for five minutes more then got up and headed for his room, still deep in thought.

So maybe he had been seeing Lance wrong all this time. When he'd heard him confess what he felt like, suddenly the over-the-top, loudmouthed, cocky Lance had disappeared and left behind was a nervous, insecure and frightened teenager that Keith could actually relate to. And all that rivalry stuff that he'd been peddling for so long? Was that just some kind of weird cover up for his real feelings? Did Lance actually see him as someone he wanted to be friends with but constantly saying the wrong things had stopped him from doing so? 

Did Lance see him as someone he wanted to be more than friends with? 

He didn't know where that thought had come from but it stopped him in his tracks in the corridor just before his door. 

All those times Lance had over-talked. Those times he'd tried to show off. All those times he'd wound Keith up. Was it all failed attempts to get his attention? 

The more he thought about it the more it made sense, the pieces of the puzzle that was Lance were falling into place and it terrified him more than anything he had had to face in his life so far. 

And maybe he was being an over-dramatic teenager himself, but it scared him because all that time he'd been grateful of Lance's stupid show. Grateful he had given him somewhere to hide, somewhere where he could cover up his own feelings. The ones he felt for Lance. The ones that he realised had him slowly falling for the Cuban pain-in-the-ass from the moment they'd been thrown together in this insane situation. 

He jammed a hand up against the wall to steady himself, the impact of his thoughts suddenly messing up his heart rate and breathing making him light-headed. Managing slowly to make the few extra steps to his door, he opened it and dragged his feet to the bed, landing heavily on it when he felt it at the back of his calves. He leaned forward and put his head between his knees to help with the blood flow back to his brain. 

A moment later the door swished open, startling Keith. Lance wandered in, absently staring at the screen in his hand. Keith almost snapped at him for the rude intrusion like he had done a thousand times before, but now things were different, he knew Lance genuinely wasn't doing it on purpose. 

“Hey, Keith, I was just…” he stopped when he finally looked up and saw Keith sitting on the bed looking extra pale and slightly terrified. 

“Keith? What's wrong? Are you okay?” He rushed over to kneel in front of him, tossing the handheld device to the side, holding his arms and searching his face for a problem. Keith felt embarrassed, not just for being caught in the middle of a crisis, but by the caring nature Lance was showing him that he had chosen to ignore until now and he felt himself fall a little bit further.

“I'm okay,” Lance gave him a disbelieving look, “no, really, I am.” He protested. 

“There's something up, spit it out,” Lance demanded. 

Suddenly, Keith's pocket felt like a lead weight at the thought of what was in it, what had been the only thing in his pocket the day they left Earth and had been there ever since. He knew what he wanted to do, his light-headedness was making him ignore all the second guessing that normally would be stopping him, so he decided to just do it. 

“Close your eyes and put your hands out,” Lance opened his mouth to retort, but Keith needed him to do it before he changed his mind. “Just do it, trust me?” Lance went to speak again, but Keith was beginning to lose his nerve, “Would you just do it?” He snapped. 

Lance looked warily at Keith, but moved his hands together between them, holding them out with a little trepidation, “Keith, I swear to god, if you…”

“It's nothing bad! Now would you just shut your eyes so I can give it to you?” He instantly regretted his choice of words, Lance raised an eyebrow, but there was a sparkle in his eye and the deep blush that swept his dark complexion which gave Keith a little courage and belief in his instincts. “Shut up.” He mumbled, feeling the heat creep up his face too.

Lance broke out in a huge grin, but said no more and did as he was told. He heard Keith rummage in his pocket and his hands instinctively jolted a little when he felt Keith's cool fingers drop something small and light there. 

“Okay, you can open them now.”

Lance opened his eyes and the smile instantly fell from his face, replaced by one of shock and disbelief. He stared a moment before gingerly picking up the familiar green packet between his fingers like it would dissolve if he held it too tight. He looked up at Keith who was staring at him in anticipation, holding his bottom lip between his teeth, waiting for Lance's reaction. He looked back at the packet of Doublemint then back at Keith. 

Lance's voice barely came out as a whisper, “I... can have a piece?” He asked, not quite believing what he was seeing. 

Keith smiled and nodded, “Keep the packet, it's yours.

The look on Lance's face made Keith's heart stutter. He'd never seen Lance look at him that way before, but he supposed he'd never looked at Lance that way either. 

His sudden reaction caught Keith unawares as Lance launched himself forward and wrapped his arms around Keith's neck, “Oh my god, I could kiss you!” he squealed, but then suddenly drew back at the horror of the words escaping his mouth, but Keith had wrapped his arms around Lance's chest to stop himself from tumbling backwards and he didn't let him move any further back, in fact, he held him tighter, and if Lance was known to be impulsive, then Keith was surely his rival in that field, for in that moment he swooped forward and caught Lance's lips with his own.

Lance froze. Keith froze. 

Lance's brain finally caught up with what was happening and realised that it wasn't accidental, Keith was actually kissing him and he had no idea why, but he knew if he didn't move soon it was all going to stop and he couldn't let that happen, not after he'd secretly been dreaming of it since the first time he’d laid eyes on Keith at the Garrison. 

He slowly kissed Keith back, hesitantly, like he was waiting for Keith to suddenly pull back and shout at him for being stupid and misunderstanding the whole situation, but he didn't. Keith returned the kiss gently with a sigh that made goosebumps stand up all over Lance's body, which encouraged him to keep going and be a little bolder with his movements until eventually they were both lying on the bed and kissing and touching, neither wishing to stop for fear it would end. 

Eventually, the sheer exhaustion of the day took over them both and they fell asleep that night, the first of many, tightly locked in each other's arms, legs tangled and gum forgotten, but Lance liked to think Keith had given him a much better gift and Keith liked to think Lance didn't need the gum so much now.

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I’d always strongly believed that Lance, canon Lance, has ADHD and after being diagnosed myself with ADD after decades of being unaware, (I slightly fall under the ADHD category, but not enough for the diagnosis) I realise I write him like that anyway as it’s an extension of me. So this turned into a bit of a personal fic and I hope people reading this either take comfort in a positive portrayal of someone who is highly functioning ADHD or might suddenly recognise some of the effects of ADD/ADHD and go and get themselves assessed to be able to move forward with their lives like I have. ADD/ADHD can be an amazing superpower with many advantages, sharpshooting and hyperfixating on writing are just a couple!  
> Gimme a 👍 in the comments if you’re part of the ADD/ADHD family 😊
> 
> This fic is a gift of thanks to @letmebelex for their words of encouragement over these past few life-changing months, even though one of us should be either working or sleeping when we chat! You’re a ⭐️


End file.
